Protective encasing means



Patented Feb. 1, 1944 UNITED 't STATES PATENT oFFlcc signor. to Western Electric Company, Incorporated, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application May 3, 1940,l seriaLNo. 333,074

, comme. (crece- 14a A Thisv invention relates tof protective encasing means', and more especially to such means for `providing a temporary protective casingA for bulky and relatively light weight articles for use in protecting the same during shipment, storage and the-like,

There. are. some articles of commerce, for ex.- ample, telephone booths, which; have highly pol.- ished and relatively.v easily damaged ornamental surfaces. and which are also of relatively large bulk inrelation totheirvveight. Crates or cases for theshipment of sucharticles, if madeof W'ood', metal or thev like,y may often beheavyl enough, when so constructed as. to aifordf the; necessary protection for the large polished surfaces of the articles,.so that the; cost of shipping the case or crate may amount to a considerable fraction of that due to the article itself'. 'r

An object of the present invention is to provide protective casing means for cabinets such as telephone booths,V radio cabinets, cabinets for medi.- cal X-ray apparatus, exhibition cases. and the like, which casing means shall be light in weight and yet afford the desiderated protection to an article contained therein.l Y

With 4the above and other objects in View, the invention maybe embodied in protective casing means for a telephone booth, which means comprises a sheet of berboard or the like dimensioned to be Wrapped or folded prismatically around the booth axially of its longest dimension and to be held in such position on the booth by metal straps, Wires, fabric tapes, textile cords or the like `encircling the Whole, the sheets being provided onfthe inner facesthereof with members of like material secured thereon and dimensioned and located some to interlock with recesses in surfaces of the booth to prevent shifting of the sheet relatively to the booth and some to space the folded4 angles of the sheet from the corresponding Vangles of the booth to permit partial local' crushing of the anglesY of the sheet by the holding means without damage to the angle` ofl the booth thereunder.`

Other objects andfeatures of the invention will appear from the following detaileddescription of one embodiment thereof taken in connection with the. accompanying drawing in which the same reference numerals are applied to identical parts inthe several gures and in'which Fig, l is a developed view of one of two sheets ofk material, as prepared in accordance; with the invention, to be applied asa shppingcasing for a telephonebooth;

Fig.,2, is a perspective view of an end cap to be applied thereover;

Fig. 3, is a perspective view, partly broken away, of a cased booth; and

Fig. 4 is an enlarged section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3 with the doors of the booth omitted.

As herein disclosed the` invention is embodied inmeans for temporarilyfencasing, al Wooden telephone; booth of ordinary' construction, ot which only so; much is shown as is; necessary for a clear understanding of theginvention itself. The booth comprises a` rear wall Ill, twol side walls ll and two front cornerA posts l2. `Doors I3 are hinged tothe corner posts to swingr inwardly, and, for present purposes; are swungv back into open positionand Wedgedfor bracedV there by'any suitable means (not shown). A roof member t4 and a door member: (notshown) complete the. booth. The side walls; IE` extend backwardly a` lttle-beyondthe'rearzwall l0 so. that about the entire rear face, presents a recess between the rear edges I5 of the side Walls. Similarly the front edges 4l5 of theside walls extend forwardly a little beyond the corner posts I2.

Thebody of-'theprotective casing, as illustrated in the drawing, consistsyessentially of two substantially identically similar sheets 29 and 2l of some suitable light weight material. In the particular case illustrated this material is the familv iar corrugated fiberboard, of which twoflayersare pasted` or: glued together face to face to; form a single sheet-,2Uv or 2|, 3/8 inch thick, as wide from Ato B as the booth'is tall, e. gi., 83% inches, and asl long fromA Cy tov D as hal-f the overall circumference of the booth body, e. g;, 62%;` inches. It is to be` noted that the` recess depths' ofthe booth andthev thickness dimensions of the casing parts are' exaggerated. for clarity in: the drawing. The sheets` 20. andd 2| are scored vertically, as shown by the dotted lines 22 and 23-in Fig. 1, to be accuratel'yl and -easily bent into place around the corners ofthe booth into the shapes and positionsI bestshown in. Fig. 4. Each of they sheets is provided along one vertical edge and on its inner face With a strip 24 of the corrugated berboard glued place-to connect andv seal together the edge abutted sheets, each4 faced with a thin padding 2tV of non-scratching materiali such as felt.

-Two strips2-5 of the corrugated berboard are secured againstV the inner face of each sheet 29 and 2lparallel to, outsideof and spaced a short distance respectively from the scorings 22 and 23. Thesearesolocatedwith respect to the scoringsthat, whenthe sheets are folded about the booth as shown= inY Fig; 4, the edge of the strip 25 in each case-will abut against the folded up portion of thev sheet beyond the fold and thus will stienup and strengthen the foldedY ,corners of the casing. A thin padding strip 26 of soft nonscratching material, e. g; felt, is glued on the inner, faceof eaehstrip 25' to provide a safe contact? surface against the outer face of the side walls Il of the booth to which it is applied, Each strip 25 is located and dimensioned to have a small but suilicient bearing on the booth wall l l and to extend outwardly somew t beyond the edge of the wall, so that there is a s ace in each instance between the edge of the wall and the adjacent surface of the casing. Also the sheet `is spaced from the wall Il over almost the entire width of the wall by the thickness of the strips` 25 and 26.

A three-thick combination of two corrugated berboard strips 21 and 28 with a felt facing strip 29 is also secured to the inner face of each sheet 20 and 2|, inside of, parallel to and spaced from each of the scorings 22 and 23, as shown. Strips 21 and 28 have their edges nearest the scorings in each case superimposed in one plane perpendicular to the sheet, and the strip 2l extends on the other side beyond the strip 28 to cover and guard the edge of the door I3. They are so 1ocated and dimensioned-that, when the sheet is folded about the'booth, they will lit into the rear recess of the booth or into theA recess at the front corner post. In each instance theywill, so to speak, hook around the projecting edge of the side wall ll, whichvis thus lightly clamped ybetween the strips 26 on the outside and the edges of the strips 28 and 29 on the inside. The strip 29 will overlap the edge ofthe strip 28 abutted Y against the side wall and so save the latter from place by one of the strips 24. After being putV in place a securing and sealing strip 30 preferably of strong textile tape or the like, may be glued in place as shown in Figs. 3 and 4, to finally secure together the other abutted edges of the two sheets. Y

Box-like top and bottom end caps 3|v and 32 also preferably formed as shown in Fig. 2 of one or two ply fberboard may then be slipped over the ends of theV arrangement described in the manner indicated in`Fig. 3, and the entire cased booth may then have the .casing finally secured by some means such as metal straps 33 suitably fastened around the same. If, in so doing, the corners of the casing are locally crushed by the strapping, no injury can come to the underlying corners of the booth within unless the material of the casing is actually cut through completely by an absurdly excessive constriction of the strap during the strapping operation. The i-lrst effect of any such crushing of the casing corner, whether by a strap 33 or by accidental other pressure, is to bend the strip l25 and 26 around the edge of the booth wall into the space provided there and thus immediately pad the projecting edge of the side wall, the most vulnerable part of the circumference of the booth, with a plurality of thicknesses of protective material including the felt innermost strip 26 in direct contact. Furthermore, under normal conditions the only contact of the casing with the polished surfaces of the circumference of the booth is at the ten felt strips 26 and 29, while any rubbing of these felts laterally on the booth surfaces is prevented by the gripping of each of the projecting front and rear edges of the side walls of the booth between a strip 26 and a strip 29.

In case the booth, or other article to be cased, does not have recessed surfaces to afford Linterand 29. In such a case one of the strips 2l or 28 may be omitted since there is no recess to be .'entered. Itis also to be noted that, while the body of the casing is herein shown as composed of two sheets 29 and 2|, attached together by the sealing strip 24, the body may also be in one continuous sheet requiring only the closure strip 30.

The embodiment of the invention herein disclosed is illustrative and may be variously modied and departed from, especially when applied to other articles, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention aspointed out in and limited solely by the appended claims.`

What is claimed is:

1. Protective casing means for telephone booths and the like articles which articles have recesses in the outerlateral surfaces thereof, the casing means comprising a bodymember con# sisting of a sheet of relatively rigid and light weight material to be folded into a prismatic tube about' the article to be encased, bufferstrips of like material attached to the inner surface of `the sheet'an'd located thereon, some to lie longitudinally along the edges of the article to space the sheet from contact with the article enclosed therein and some to enter into recesses in the articler to lock the sheet against being shifted thereon, and means to secure together the abutted edges of the folded sheet; two of the rsaid buffer strips being so locatedras to grip a protrading part of the' article between them. d

2. Protective casing means for telephone booths and the like articles which articles have recesses in the outerlateral surfaces thereof, the casing means comprising a body member con# sisting of a sheet of relatively rigidand lightl weight material to be folded 'into a prismatic tube about the article to be encased, buffer strips of like material attached to the inner surface of thesheet and located thereon, some to lie longitudinally along the edges of the article to space the sheet from contactV with the article enclosed therein and some to enter into recessesin the between them.

weight material to be folded into a lprismatictube about the article to be encased, buffer strips of like material attached to the inner vsurface of the sheet andlocated thereon, some to lie longitudinally along the ledges of the articletospace the sheet froml contactwith the article ein-A closedtherein and some toenter into recesses in the article to lock the sheet against being shifted thereon, means to secure together the abutted edges of the folded sheet, and a layer of non-scratching material on the contact faces of the buffer strips, two of the said buffer strips being so located as to grip a protruding part ofthe article between them.

WELLINGTON R. HUMMEL. 

